Appuntamento a Belleville

Madame Souza raises her grandson Champion and tries to make him happier with a baby dog, Bruno. However, the boy remains sad, and the grandmother gives a tricycle for him. The boy gets excited with the gift, and trained by Madame Souza along the years, he finally competes the Tour de France. When Champion is kidnapped by two MIBs from the French mafia, Madame Souza and Bruno travel to Belleville to rescue him, with the support of the elder singers, the Belleville Sisters.

What a wonderful surprise "Les Triplettes de Belleville" is! An original, impressive and very bizarre dark story, that recalls the style of Tim Burton, supported by an amazing music score. The scene on the sea, while playing Mozart's Mass in C Minor, is fantastic and maybe my favorite. The city of Belleville, visibly inspired in New York, with a fat Statue of Liberty, is impressive. The intentional exxageration in the proportions of the ships and sky-scrapers is amazing and stylish. The grotesque and ugly characters are very unusual for heroes and even villains, and this movie is basically the opposite of the animations of Pixar and Disney. Madame Souza has a shorter leg; Champion has deformed legs and long nose; Bruno is horribly fat; the MIBs are plane; their boss is very short; the old singers look like witches; in common, all of them are very ugly. I really recommend this movie for viewers that aim to see a fresh idea of animation, with dark comedy and weird adventure. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "As Bicicletas de Belleville" ("The Bicycles of Belleville")